National Curriculum Review: How could GCSE exams and other assessments change?

• The Government last year launched a full review of England’s national curriculum and assessments
• The expert panel leading it has now released an interim report based on thousands of public submissions
• More than half of last year’s GCSE candidates told the review they found it hard to handle exam stress
• The review will look into whether it can cut these back
• The report also suggests controversial primary school SAT exams will stick around

The volume of GCSE exams secondary school pupils take and how English and maths resits work will be up for closer scrutiny, in the next stage of a shake-up of England’s curriculum.

Last year, the Government launched a full review of the national curriculum and assessment system - which maps out what schools should be teaching young people, as well as what standards they should be achieving at. On Tuesday (March 18), the expert panel leading the review released its initial preliminary report.

Broadly, the panel found that the education system was working well, and review head Professor Becky Francis said the review would likely be an ‘evolution, not a revolution’. But there were some major areas identified for improvement, including making sure the curriculum works for all students - including those with SEND and from different socioeconomic backgrounds - making sure the content in each subject was cutting edge and up to date, and making sure it prepared learners for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

This report doesn’t mean that the curriculum review is over, nor does it contain the panel’s final recommendations to the Department for Education. But it does shape how the rest of the process will go, as well as outlining what the main areas of focus will be.

It did also raise some concerns about GCSEs, and the school assessment system as a whole. These initial concerns may eventually morph into recommendations for change. Here are some of the key ones, and the impact they could have on key primary and secondary school exams:

GCSEs

The panel said a frequently-raised concern in its call for evidence was the intensive, high-stakes assessment system’s impact on wellbeing. Its own polling of young people found that over half of those who completed their GCSEs last summer found it difficult (41%) or very difficult (10%) to cope with stress during the exam period.

England’s Year 11 pupils sit between 24 and 31 hours of exams on average, on par with Singapore, but much higher than other high achieving countries like Ireland, New Zealand and Canada, the report said. Some subjects, like English literature, geography and history, were assessed completely by exams, meaning pupil performance came down entirely to how they did on the day. But on the other side of the coin, more in-class assessments could increase teacher workload, and it would be easier to use “invalid means of help” like generative AI.

In the review’s next phase, the panel says it will, “consider carefully whether there are opportunities to reduce the overall volume of assessment at key stage 4” - without compromising the importance of the qualification, or results. This may mean it eventually recommends fewer GCSE exams overall.

Maths and English are required subjects for GCSE-level students, and currently, if students fail their exam they have to do a resit. But the panel noted that some students were being re-entered into exams prematurely, often leading to repeated failure that damaged self-esteem. On top of that, “the quality of provision appears to be uneven”, it continued. “Given that this group includes a disproportionate number of young people 8 with SEND and those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, it is especially important that these issues are addressed.”

The panel says there is a need to “reconsider the available pathways” available for these students, so that more students have positive literacy and numeracy outcomes by the time they leave school.

EBacc

The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) - a performance measure for schools based on students who take a selected series of GCSE subjects - has also come under scrutiny. Students entering into EBacc take English language, English literature, mathematics, double or triple science, history or geography, and a language.

This eats up seven or eight of the nine GCSEs the average student takes. Respondents to the call for evidence told the review the measure may “unnecessarily constrain” young people’s choices and time to study other subjects they might be interested in - like the arts.

Going forwards, the panel will look at whether it still has a place. “We will continue to assess the place of the EBacc performance measures within the wider accountability framework, paying close attention to the evidence of the impact of performance measures on young people’s choices and outcomes, and their impact on institutional behaviours.”

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SATs

SATs - or Standard Assessment Tests - are a series of exams sat by all English primary school students in Year 6. There are six of them total, covering English grammar, punctuation and spelling (two papers); English reading (one paper); and mathematics (three papers - one on basic arithmetic and two on reasoning).

SAT results are used to both help identify children who might be in need of more help before they start secondary school, and to measure a primary school’s teaching performance. But they are not without controversy. Some educators and teaching unions want them to be scrapped, saying they place a lot of pressure on schools - leading to narrower curriculums and teaching to the test.

But the review panel has so far found a “number of strengths” in the current assessment system at primary schools. “Assessments rightly focus on the core skills of reading, writing and maths, which are essential to equip pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed as they transition to secondary school and throughout their lives. End of key stage 2 statutory assessments are an important tool in holding schools to account for the progress and attainment of their pupils, and to ascertain whether pupils have learned the national curriculum. They also play a role in important accountability measures beyond primary school,” the report said.

“Given this, we are clear that formal assessments are an important part of key stage 1 and 2,” it continued - suggesting that SATs are likely here to stay. However, in response to the concerns it had heard, the panel would look further into how the assessment could help students to use the essential skills they are learning “fluently” - and that writing is being taught comprehensively too.

What do you think of these initial findings - and is the panel focusing on the right issues with the national curriculum? Have your say and make your voice heard by leaving a comment below.